Orange County Sanitation District

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT ORANGE COUNTY SANITATION DISTRICT

-- Paul Clinton The Orange County Sanitation District's board has set the date it will decide how it will treat sewage between now and 2020. The board put it on the July 17 agenda. By the time a vote was taken during a marathon Wednesday night meeting, only 17 members remained. Mayor Tod Ridgeway opposed the delay, saying the matter should be decided sooner rather than later. However, Costa Mesa Sanitary District member Jim Ferryman, who also holds a seat, supported the move.

The Costa Mesa Sanitary District postponed a decision Monday on whether to support a federal sewage waiver for the county sewer agency. Board members unanimously agreed to delay the decision a week, to just two days before the Orange County Sanitation District decides whether to chase the waiver. Nine cities have lined up to oppose the waiver, which allows the district to discharge 240 million gallons of partially treated sewage into the ocean. The city councils of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach oppose the waiver.

FOR THE RECORD In a Daily Pilot article on Monday ("A clean majority on board"), a member of the Orange County Sanitation District board was misquoted. Mark Leyes, who represents Garden Grove, did not suggest that a controversial sewage waiver would be renewed. Leyes said he supported the waiver at a Wednesday meeting before the board dumped the waiver on a 13-12 vote. In the Orange County Fair schedule on Friday, the day was misidentified as being a seniors day. The next seniors day at the fair will be Thursday.

Newport Beach city workers quickly mopped up sewage seeping out of a manhole at Carnation Park on Sunday, after a passing driver reported the spill. As a result of the spill, about 800 gallons of sewage flowed into gutters near the park at the intersection of Carnation Avenue and Bayside Drive. The Orange County Health Care Agency closed a quarter-mile section of Newport Harbor after the 12:20 p.m. spill. Agency regulators closed the harbor's beach front to swimmers and divers from Bayside Place to Harbor Patrol Beach, near the Balboa Yacht Club.

Swimmers and surfers were free to reenter the water from the Newport Beach Pier to Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach Monday afternoon, after a two-day closure, according to lifeguards in both cities. The Orange County Environmental Health agency spent the weekend sampling ocean waters along the almost five-mile stretch of beach. The agency deemed the water safe for the public just after 2 p.m. Monday, said Larry Honeybourne, the program chief for the agency's Ocean Water Protection Program.

1. EMS stands for a. environmentalists mad for the sea b. electric midnight show c. a new rock band from the U.K., influenced by U2, touring with REM. d. emergency medical service 2. The Costa Mesa City Council appointed an interim commissioner to which commission this week? a. the Planning Commission b. the Warren Commission c. the Little Hoover Commission d. the Parks and Recreation Commission 3. The Orange County Sanitation District wants to contribute $60,000 -- from a fine the district must pay -- to: a. stem cell research b. earthquake-prediction technology c. more arts programs d. a program to monitor ocean currents 4. Fifty people of all ages and ethnicities marched at UC Irvine in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. How old would he have been on Jan. 15?

Traffic is expected Monday on Pacific Coast Highway between Bayside Drive and Superior Avenue/Balboa Boulevard, officials warn. Two construction projects are slated to begin Monday and officials are recommending residents use alternative routes, according to a news release from Newport Beach spokeswoman Tara Finnigan. One of the projects, by the Orange County Sanitation District, requires trenching across PCH. One lane will be open in each direction between the entrance to Balboa Bay Club and Tustin Avenue as work is done on the district's Rocky Point Pump Station.

This past Saturday, I had the honor of attending the annual meeting of Stop Polluting Our Newport (SPON), a local organization that promotes the protection and preservation of Newport Beach’s environment. Jack Skinner discussed bay sedimentation and Heal the Bay’s annual “Beach Report Card” at the meeting. Heal The Bay, a Santa Monica-based nonprofit, gathers water-quality information from local agencies to assemble a report card. The latest report card presents a yearlong analysis of storm-water runoff, ocean and tributary water quality from May 2007 to April 2008.

Alicia Robinson Orange County residents have paid the price of urban runoff when they get sick from swimming or their beaches are closed, but they may soon be asked to pay in cash. Orange County Sanitation District staff members have proposed charging residents a fee, which could range from $25 to $50 a year per household, to help clean up urban runoff. Runoff water from urban areas can contain fertilizers, pesticides and fluids that leak from cars and other toxic materials.

Paul Clinton NEWPORT BEACH -- As beach goers start to unpack the folding chairs, public agencies have begun work to help avoid a replay of earlier summers marred by a rash of closures and postings. In 1999, a fecal bacteria scare turned the Huntington Beach shoreline into a near ghost town. That same year, Newport Beach registered 256 closures or posted warnings. The postings continued last summer, though at a far less frequent clip. To answer lingering questions about an underwater bacteria plume four miles offshore, the Orange County Sanitation District launched a $4.1-million summer testing program May 21. The district, along with other public agencies, has already completed the first round of testing off the Newport Beach coastline.